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The Euro NCAP (New Car Assessment Programme) safety tests are funded by various European governments and motoring bodies. Their ratings are frequently cited by manufacturers as a gold standard of safety.

Popular models are either selected for testing by the organisation themselves, or car manufacturers can pay to get their models tested.

But there is no legal requirement for cars to be Euro NCAP tested.

Accident

The issue was brought to the BBC's attention by Daniel Jenkins, owner of a high-end car rental business.

He bought an R8 supercar in December 2012 after a local Audi dealer advised him it had a five-star Euro NCAP safety rating.

Nobody's saying the cars aren't safe, but if they haven't been tested... to say that they have, that's outrageousTim Shallcross, Institute of Advanced Motorists

A few months later Mr Jenkins's father, Paul, was involved in an accident while driving it.

Despite the R8's safety performance not being responsible for the accident, Mr Jenkins decided to research the official safety credentials of the car, so he contacted multiple dealerships.

He told Watchdog: "Forty-eight of the 50 dealers I spoke to told me directly that it had been put through the Euro NCAP programme and it had a five-star rating."

Mr Jenkins then contacted Audi head office about the dealers' lies. In December 2013 Audi responded, telling him they were taking his allegations seriously - five months before the Watchdog investigation.

When told about Watchdog's findings, Tim Shallcross, a spokesman from the Institute of Advanced Motorists said: "I find it incredible… that a company of the reputation of Audi, and their parent group, the Volkswagen Group can allow their product to be misrepresented so badly in that way.

Six of the dealers claimed the Audi A5 (pictured) achieved five stars on the Euro NCAP test

"Nobody's saying the cars aren't safe, but if they haven't been tested... to say that they have, that's outrageous."

'No intent to mislead'

NCAP spokesman Aled Williams said: "Most of the car companies that we deal with have large marketing departments. These marketing departments understand full well what the safety ratings mean, and it's disappointing to find out that that information is not being filtered down to the point where it matters most… where people are selling cars to consumers.

Which Audi models have been tested?

Since 2009, six of the 12 models in the Audi range have been tested by Euro NCAP

The A3 received four Euro NCAP advanced awards for its active safety systems

The Q7 and TT were tested before 2009 and received four-star adult safety ratings

The A5, A7, A8 and R8 have not been tested

"Euro NCAP is not a regulatory body, we have no legislative powers.

"All we can do is speak to Audi at a high level and try to encourage them to make sure that the dealers are better informed and better trained."

An Audi spokesman said: "Audi UK wishes to emphasise that there has not been any deliberate intent to mislead on the part of its customer-facing staff where the Euro NCAP safety test performance of the Audi model range is concerned."